Lehman takes bronze in World Junior Championships

Emery Lehman, the 17-year-old Olympic speedskater from Oak Park, took bronze Friday in the 3,000 meter at the World Junior Championships in Bjugn, Norway.

Lehman finished in 3:55.31. Patrick Roest of the Nethlands took gold with a time of 3:52.05, and Willem Hoolwerf took silver with 3:54.06.

“He was disappointed,” his mother, Marcia, said by text. “He went out a bit too slow and had to make up for that miscalculation and it cost him.”

Primarily a long-distance skater at the moment, Lehman clocked 38.31 in the 500 meter, placing 40th. He still has two more races in the competition.

At last year’s World Junior Championships in Collabo, Italy, Lehman took bronze in the 3,000 with a time of 3:53:94 and won gold in the 5,000. That competition was in higher altitude – condition that typically leads to faster times.

At the Sochi Games last month, the senior at Oak-Park River Forest High School was the youngest U.S. male Olympian. He raced in the men’s 10,000 and the 5,000, the latter of which he finished as the top American.

Lehman, a member of the Franklin Park Speedskating Club, is coached by two-time Olympian Jeff Klaiber, who is from Evanston.

Separately on Friday in Inzell, Germany, U.S. speedskaters took two medals in their first World Cup since they left Sochi without any hardware.

Heather Richardson won gold in a 500 meter race while Brittany Bowe took a bronze in the 1,500.